


Setting fire to our insides for fun

by Port_in_a_Storm



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Allusions to Childhood Abuse, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Families of Choice, Gen, M/M, Roblivion, mentions of domestic abuse, nothing graphic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-08-08 02:54:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7740631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Port_in_a_Storm/pseuds/Port_in_a_Storm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After her talk with Gabby when she accused her father of hitting her, an upset Liv tells Aaron and Robert about it all.</p><p>Based on a tumblr prompt</p>
            </blockquote>





	Setting fire to our insides for fun

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! This fic was based on a prompt from [@theredandwhitequeen](http://www.theredandwhitequeen.tumblr.com) : "after Liv's talk with Gabby, she goes home and is upset and she talks to Aaron and Robert about it all. Robert may take Liv to see Diane about how much hurt Gabby is going through." I hope you enjoy this, love, and thank you for the prompt!
> 
> Just reiterating the warnings in the tags: domestic violence against a child is mentioned, as is Aaron's childhood abuse, but nothing graphic at all.

The words that she and Gabby exchanged chased themselves around Liv’s mind as she walked away from her friend. She was astounded; stunned at what Gabby was capable of: to accuse her Dad of something that she _knew_ would affect their lives so much, that she should have known would affect Liv so much, as well. Liv’s feet led her to the scrapyard without her even knowing. She heard Adam’s loud booming laughter coming from within the portacabin and wanted to turn back. She couldn’t face him, knowing how much Gabby had scared Vic. But the door opened before she could walk away, and a smiling Robert stood in the doorway.

‘Liv?’ he said, squinting against the sun at her back. It would be easy to walk away now, to just pretend that she was just on a walk and turn back to the village again. But then her brother, summoned by his boyfriend’s shout of her name, came to the doorway, and she ran to him.

He grunted when she flung herself at her, but instantly his arms hugged her back. ‘Liv? What’s wrong?’ She kept her face pressed to his stomach, inhaling his scent, feeling his warmth. She had never felt more at home than here, beside her brother. 

Adam cleared his throat. ‘I’ll go make a start on that car, yeah?’ She heard his footsteps clang down the three steps of the portacabin, and then it was just the three of them.

‘Close the door, Robert,’ Aaron said quietly. He guided her gently back with firm hands to her shoulders. ‘What happened?’ he asked, searching her face. 

Robert brought a chair to them, scraping it along the ground before picking it up with one hand. ‘Here,’ he said gently. She sat, and Aaron crouched in front of her, whilst Robert leant on Aaron’s desk, facing them both. 

‘Tell us,’ Aaron coaxed. His eyes were so sincere, so concerned about her. She hated Gabby in that moment. Aaron was everything that was good and decent, and he had changed her life. How dare she _lie_ about something that had affected her brother so deeply.

She wiped her eyes free of the last remaining tears and cleared her throat. ‘Gabby,’ she started, and saw how Robert and Aaron’s shoulders stiffened. They knew that Gabby had hurt her once before; they were instantly on guard. She couldn’t tell them about Vic: it would implicate herself, but she could tell them about everything else. ‘She’s done something really wrong.’

‘When does she not?’ Robert snorted. Aaron threw his boyfriend a sharp glare, and Robert ducked his head in contrition. 

‘What did she do?’ Aaron asked.

Liv swallowed the lump in her throat a few times. She hated that she had to bring this all back to Aaron. ‘She told the police that her Dad hit her,’ she said quietly.

Robert stood and his mouth dropped. ‘ _Ashley_ hit her?’ he said.

She shook her head. ‘No, that’s the thing: he didn’t. But she told the police that he did.’

Aaron frowned and shook his head. ‘Why? Why lie about something like that?’ She could hear from his voice that he thought that Gabby couldn’t be lying, that no one would ever make up something like that. It amazed her, his faith.

‘She’s been having a bad time at home recently,’ Liv said. ‘With her Dad’s dementia, and her Mum being god knows where.’ She sniffed and wiped her sleeve across her nose. ‘But she lied about her Dad. She wanted to get her own back for something, so she made up that lie.’ She shook her head. ‘I’m done with her.’

‘Hey, no, she’s your mate,’ Aaron said. 

‘Yeah, but she knows what you’ve been through,’ Liv said. 

‘Liv,’ Robert said warningly. He had eyes only for his boyfriend, and saw the way his eyes glazed over, how he ducked his head when his abuse was mentioned.

‘Sorry.’ She shifted on the chair. ‘But it’s true! She knows what we all went through, and yet she still made up a lie like that! I told her to tell them the truth: that she made a mistake.’

Aaron’s eyes went to the ceiling before meeting hers again. ‘Thank you, Liv,’ he whispered. ‘It is wrong that she lied about something like that. But—’ he breathed deeply. ‘She _is_ your friend, and she doesn’t know the impact of something like this; not the way you do. She needs your help as well, Liv.’

Liv shook her head. ‘No! You should have seen her! She was so smug when she told me what she’d done!’ Gone were the tears, and in their place was a harsh need for retribution.

‘It sounds like she’s been through a lot, Liv,’ Robert said. She turned her focus on him, frowning. If there was someone she thought she could depend to be on her side in this, it was Robert. He shrugged in the face of her anger. ‘She probably acted without thinking.’

‘She was being selfish!’

‘Because she’s hurting.’ Robert pulled up another chair and sat beside Liv. ‘People do a lot of stupid things when they’re hurting,’ he said. The _I should know, and so should you,_ went unsaid, but Liv heard it all the same. 

‘But to lie about that,’ Liv said, turning back to Aaron. 

Her brother shifted so that he was kneeling instead of crouching in front of her. ‘Liv, I’m not saying that it isn’t upsetting, that someone would use a lie like that just for attention or revenge, or whatever,’ he frowned again and looked down at his hands. ‘But Gabby is young, she’s not coping well with everything that she’s going through. It’s not fair that she made up a lie like that, of course it isn’t, and I love that you stood up for me, and for everyone else who’s been in that situation. But it sounds like Gabby needs your help right now.’

Liv’s lip trembled and she bit it harshly. She heard the truth in Aaron’s words: Gabby was going through a lot, and when Liv was in that situation, she had Aaron and Robert. But Gabby had no one. She nodded in agreement. Gabby _did_ need her help right now. She couldn’t just abandon her. Robert rubbed her back. ‘We’ll go see Diane, yeah? Tell her what’s going on. Maybe she can go and see Gabby.’ Liv nodded again.

‘Okay,’ she whispered. She smiled weakly at her brother and Robert. ‘Thanks. For listenin’ and that.’

Aaron offered her a small smile and rubbed her knee. Robert stood and helped Aaron to his feet, then wrapped Aaron in his arms. They swayed for a moment, Liv trying not to look but unable to hide her fascination at seeing this vulnerable side of her brother being taken care of by his boyfriend. ‘Alright, Baby?’ he whispered into his hair. Aaron nodded, but curled his hands tighter in Robert’s jacket.

When Aaron let go, he pecked Robert gently on the lips. ‘I’ll see you back at the pub later, yeah?’ he said.

‘Aren’t you coming with us?’ Liv asked.

Aaron shook his head. ‘Nah, best stay here. Give Adam a hand with that stuff out there.’

Liv nodded, but warily. She had seen her brother running his hands under warm water in the pub kitchen, his fingers clenched from where he had gripped a wrench too tightly when he was working out his anger on the scrap in the yard. 

Robert kissed Aaron’s forehead. ‘Be careful,’ he said. Aaron nodded. He pulled Liv into a one-armed hug.

When they left, before they got into Robert’s car, Liv heard Robert quietly tell Adam to keep an eye on Aaron for them.

****

Diane was shocked at what Liv and Robert told her about Gabby and how she wasn’t coping at home. They decided to exclude what she had told the police: that was for Ashley or Gabby herself to tell her grandmother. 

‘I had no idea things were that bad,’ she said. ‘I’ve been so caught up in things here, I didn’t—’

‘It’s not your fault, Diane,’ Robert assured her. ‘Liv told us about it just now, but we thought you’d want to know.

‘Of course.’ She pat Liv’s hand. ‘Thank you, pet. You’re every inch your brother’s sister.’

Liv smiled widely at that. Then she sobered slightly. ‘Will you go and see her now?’ she asked.

‘Of course.’ She got to her feet, but before she left, stroked Robert’s arm. ‘You’re doing so well,’ she said quietly, but not quietly enough that Liv didn’t hear. The words made him smile shakily and nod. 

Liv didn’t ask, but she thought it must have been something to do with Robert’s Dad. Somehow everything always came back to their fathers; maybe that was why the three of them understood each other so well.

**Author's Note:**

> Come have a nosy on tumblr!: [Port in a Storm](http://www.portinastorm.tumblr.com)
> 
> Title is a line from 'Youth' by Daughter.


End file.
